kristilkleer

Grrr You obviously haven't been in a car accident that wasn't your fault before! Insurance companies are there for one reason...to make money! They hope that you'll pay years and years worth of (outrageous IMO) insurance premiums and never need the insurance company. And if by chance you do get into an accident (OMG now I'm on a rant about auto insurance) with someone that has the same insurance company as you~ well then expect YOUR premiums to go up too! As far as insurance for the sale of candles goes...I do not have insurance. I've never sold a candle but I would hope too. I think once you get big enough to do shows and such you should have insurance. It's just smart to cover yourself...kind like health insurance. But for me I plan on giving them as gifts (human testers!) and maybe selling to friends first. I'm truly hoping that I will only sell to someone with common sense until I get big enough to warrant insurance!

Your insurance will never pay you anyway...I'm not sure what you mean by that? The insurance company will not be covering you or your products...only any liabilities you incur through your products. And yes, you do want your insurance company to fight for you! That's what you're paying them for! It's the same principle as car insurance minus the bonus you may get if a rock hits your windshield, it's there strictly to protect you in the event someone is harmed in any way by one of your products. Insurance companies don't really have a choice whether or not to pay ... if they write you they must cover your damages. The win for them is that you sell a quality and tested product and they never have to pay out. That's years of insurance premiums received for them!

Good maybe that means I truly did err on the high side and I'll make even more profit!! Won't really know until I get my 16 oz. jars in and do all the weighing and such.

I think if you'll read my original post I was thinking that perhaps I was missing something... I think the most important thing is that you are happy with the pricing of your candles. I'm in no way knocking you or your product, or your pricing for that matter...I just know that I would be better off selling something else if that was the profit margin I was was working with. If anything I would take this as a compliment. We all obviously think your products are worth more than what you are selling them for.

Ok not smart enough to send a PM... I'll just put it on here. Who knows? Maybe I'll get lots of opinions that way! 1case of 16oz jars @ $19.92 = $1.66 1case of 4786 wax @ $65.40 = $1.09 (this is where I'm assuming it's 1# per 1 16oz candle.) 1 4oz bottle of scent @ $6.95 = $1.73 (I currently use 3/4 to 1oz per # of wax) 1 1oz bottle of dye @ $4.95 = $.50 (I'll admit I'm clueless on this one because I haven't used enough dye to see how much I can get out of a 1 oz. bottle-but this is based on 10 uses) 1 bag of wicks (100) @ 8.95 = $.09 misc. = $.50 (this includes any packaging costs other than the jar and the little sticky thing I use to hold the candle) That's my breakdown and trust me any constructive critisism is welcome. I'm new to this and I really want to create a business that I can share with my daughters (someday) and my love of candles. Again, I've only made 8oz. (figured I wanted to test formulas on smaller candles) so I really don't know if it takes 1lb of wax to make a 16 oz candle...Although I do know for a fact that I can get 6 8oz jjs out of 2lbs of wax. So it would suffice to say that I could get 1.5 16 oz candles out of 1lb of wax. Well if you're not confused by now please help! Either way I'm not selling my 16oz candles at $8 I just couldn't see how anyone could make a decent profit off of that. I live in N. Texas and even if I go to Wal-Mart and buy a stinky 16 oz candle I pay more than $8.

It could be that I'm a little off...After I posted that I thought about the wax portion of it. I haven't made a 16 oz candle yet but just placed an order for supplies to do so. I'm assuming that if you're making a 16 oz candle that is how much wax you will use? Basically is it 1 lb. per wax per 16 oz. candle...if I'm off on that part it still can't be that much difference. I will PM you Michi if you don't mind just for an educated opinion.

I'm only posting this thread because I looked on Scents by Elina's website and noticed she was only charging $8.00 for a 16 oz. candle. I pretty much want to start selling early next year and was trying to figure out pricing. After breaking down my pricing this is what I came up with. For one candle it will cost me about $5.57 to make. Now that's not buying in huge bulk which I know I could get a deeper discount but I have to start off small. I may have also erred on the high side but I think it's pretty accurate. Does this sound about right to you guys? Am I missing something?

I went to craftlister.com and there is a very extensive list of shows but no info on the shows...is this due to their crash? Also is the memberships worth it? Or is that something you have to research show by show with the promoter?

Thanks so much for all your input. I just thought that promoters would want vendors so I couldn't justify paying for a craft show list. Also one thing~ what is juried?

I love those little clear tea light boxes. I've been looking all day for them...where'd ya get 'em?

When I hear boutique I always think OLD ladies clothing and jewelery!

I was going to use those little 2 oz. hex jars. I thought that would be a good idea to show off colors as well as fragrance. Get better! It stinks to be sick

I did a google search to see if there was an organized listing of craft fairs by state and guess what?! There is! But...you have to pay for most of them. Is this the case? Are there any free ones out there...any you guys might recommend?:highfive:

I agree as far as your pricing. I thought everything seemed awefully underpriced. You have an awesome product line so far...I'd keep with the upscale theme and charge a little extra. Your site is awesome. I think your pictures look very classic.

I think you're actually talking about something to mix in right??? Couldn't you just use a bowl...it would be kinda hard to pour though.